Communication connectors, such as RJ45 jacks, have been and continue to be readily employed in the communication industry. These jacks generally comprise a housing having an aperture for receiving a corresponding plug at one end, a means for terminating a communication cable at another end, and a means for transferring electrical signals between the plug and the communication cable.
In an RJ45 jack, the means for transferring the electrical signals typically include eight plug interface contacts (PICs). While the eight PICs are designed to interface eight plug contacts positioned in an eight-position RJ45 plug, respectively, it is also possible to connect a six-position plug (e.g., RJ12, RJ25) to an RJ45 jack. However, when compared to an eight-position plug, plug contacts 1 and 8 do not exist in a six-position plug. Therefore, in the locations where the plug contacts are not present, the jack PICs must undergo greater deflection as compared to locations where the plug contacts do exist. This additional deflection can cause the outer PICs to plastically deform and cause damage (or otherwise prevent operation within certain specifications) to the jack if the deformation is significant enough.
Additionally, in some instances the positioning/arrangement of the PICs may have some effect on the amount of crosstalk produced within the plug/jack combination and/or how the crosstalk is compensated for. This can particularly be influenced by the proximity of the plug/jack mating point and the compensation network within the jack.
Thus there exists a need for communication jacks with improved designs for plug interface contacts and corresponding compensation methods.